It’s Back to the Future at Park and Ride sites as tickets can be purchased at ticket offices
20 December 2024

When the Truro park and ride service first started in the late 2000s and expanded to the east in 2015, all tickets had to be purchased at the ticket offices at Langarth and Tregurra - tickets could not be purchased on the buses. This enabled faster loading of the buses. In February 2023, in a cost-cutting measure, Cornwall Council removed the ticket machines from the offices and told passengers to buy day tickets on the buses from the drivers, or to purchase multi-day tickets through the First Bus app.

Loading times of buses increased and the multi-day ticket options became less attractive because of short expiry dates on these options.

Now, in December 2024, in a little publicised move, it has become possible again to purchase day tickets from the ticket offices prior to boarding the buses. First have rigged up Ticketer machines (the machines that are normally on the buses themselves) in the terminal buildings. Payment is by card only (not cash). I assume that the passenger will need to catch a First employee in the office in order to purchase a ticket - it doesn’t look like a self-service facility. (When I was in the building, there was nobody available to ask about it.) Tickets are still available to purchase on the buses and I would imagine that most passengers will continue to use the on-the-bus option mainly because neither Cornwall Council nor First are making any effort to publicise the new facility.